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Paul Ainslie resigns from Rob Ford's executive

Three days after voting for LRT over a Scarborough subway, the councillor resigned from the committee before Ford could fire him.

Councillor Paul Ainslie has resigned from Mayor Rob Ford's executive committee after voting against a subway for Scarborough. Anslie says Ford “ran out of ideas a long time ago” and has a “lack of strategic objectives.”
(STEVE RUSSELL / TORONTO STAR) | Order this photo

Three days after voting against a Scarborough subway extension in favour of light rail, Councillor Paul Ainslie resigned from Mayor Rob Ford’s executive committee on Friday before Ford could fire him.

Ainslie (Ward 43, Scarborough East) began the term as a staunch Ford ally, but he opposed the mayor more frequently than any other member of the cabinet-like executive in 2013 — more than half the time on significant issues from January through August, according to an analysis by Metro’s Matt Elliott.

Ainslie spoke out against Ford after his resignation. Ford, he said, “ran out of ideas a long time ago” and has a “lack of strategic objectives.”

He said he “felt bullied on a number of occasions” this year by Ford’s vote-whipping staff. And he said Ford’s associations have raised questions in his ward.

“I’ve got to go into my community and justify his personal friendships,” Ainslie said. “I get a lot of that as well. That gets reflected on me as a member of his executive committee. Cumulative, all things considered, I’m just not happy. I didn’t see any benefit for me either politically or personally to stay on his executive.”

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Councillor Doug Ford said the mayor’s staff does not use bullying tactics. He said Ainslie was casting aspersions on Ford to distract from his vote against the popular subway the mayor secured.

Ainslie, he said, drifted from the administration when the mayor picked someone else in February for the budget chief post in which Ainslie expressed interest.

“He was ticked,” Doug Ford said in an interview. “That's when the whole pendulum swung. That’s it. A hundred per cent. That’s when it started.”

The deterioration of their relationship was accelerated by Ainslie’s March decision to publicly confirm that he had urged Ford’s chief of staff to have the mayor leave a February military gala where others said Ford appeared intoxicated.

Ford first demoted Ainslie in June, stripping him of his post as chair of the government management committee and making him chair of the lower-profile parks and environment committee. Ainslie resigned Friday from the parks post, which came with an automatic spot on the executive.

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti was appointed to replace Ainslie. Mammoliti quit the executive when Ford appeared to have been ousted from office in November but recently applied to get back on.

Ainslie’s nominal position in Ford’s inner circle had been further complicated by the looming mayoral candidacy of David Soknacki, the former politician he once worked for as an assistant. Ainslie said Friday that he will support Soknacki if he registers to run against Ford, as expected.

“I think there’s a lot of potential here for the city to move forward into the 21st century, and I don’t think Rob Ford’s the mayor to take that leap,” he said.

Ford announced Ainslie’s resignation on the council floor, saying “the whole world” saw the split coming, presumably after the transit vote. He told CP24’s Stephen LeDrew that he would have dismissed Ainslie after the current council meeting if he had not resigned.

“I like Paul, he’s a good guy, I guess he’s not on our team,” Ford told LeDrew. “I can’t have people on the executive that aren’t on our team.”

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